Peter Veitch

Peter Christian Massyn Veitch (February 1850 – 1929) was a member of the family of horticulturists who established the renowned family business Veitch Nurseries.

Veitch was the son of Robert Veitch and was born in the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, where his father was farming, before his father returned to England to join the family nursery company in 1856.

In 1867, he was employed by the London branch of the family business under his uncle James Veitch, Jr., working at the Coombe Wood nurseries as an assistant nurseryman in the "Trees & Shrubs" department, before transferring to work in the "New Plant" department at Chelsea, London, where he stayed until 1869. He was then sent to a seed-growing establishment in Germany, and then to a seed-house in France for six months, before returning to Chelsea.

By 1875, James Veitch & Sons was under the control of Peter's cousin, Harry Veitch, who dispatched him "to visit, on behalf of the firm, the clients in Australasia, and, at the same time, introduce to England any plants likely to be of value for horticultural purposes."

Peter left England in 1875 for Sydney, by the long sea route. He spent little time there, before leaving for Fiji, having an offer to sail in H.M. schooner "Renard". Several months were spent in visiting the various islands of the Fiji group and in collecting plants. In February 1876, a trading vessel having called at Fiji, Veitch secured a passage and proceeded to the South Sea Islands, where he remained until the following September. The whole of the collection of plants made in the Fiji Islands was lost in a gale, but that from the South Sea Islands was despatched to England in 1877.

From September to December 1876 he made excursions to various parts of the Australian Colonies, where he found various ferns including Lomaria discolor, L. discolor bipinnatifida and Microlepia hirta cristata, which were sent to England for cultivation.

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